Garry McCarthy grilled by aldermen on police staffing

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's top cop again faced skeptical lawmakers at City Hall on Thursday. Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy testified at budget hearings and told aldermen he's reducing crime, but needs more money to keep the city safe.

The superintendent dispensed with formalities and got into a big question and answer session. He said crime and murders are down, in the latter case, to 1965 levels, and Chicago police respect the communities they serve.

"Quite frankly, you will never see under my watch police officers arm the line during a protest with rifles, with high-powered rifles," said Supt. McCarthy.

Aldermen complained they had only two weeks to get through a city budget of over $8 billion. They grilled McCarthy on staffing levels, ethnic composition of supervisors and plans to get more cops on the beat.

Ald. Willie Cochran was livid the superintendent did not have organized handouts to explain staffing levels, especially minorities moving through the ranks. McCarthy said the CPD has an authorized force of 12,533, but only 12,000 of those positions are filled.

"If we don't have the numbers going into our police department we don't have a future as far as representation and (African Americans) becoming leaders on this police department. It has to be changed," said Ald. Cochran, 20th Ward.

The budget calls for hiring to only keep pace with retirements. On police overtime, McCarthy said 60% of the $100 million item stems from court time for officers, and he aims to reduce that to around $20 million. But he defended the need for some military-style weapons to fight criminals

"We run into rifle fire, unfortunately, frequently, and you don't want to shoot spitballs at rifle fire," said Supt. McCarthy.

But Ald. Bob Fioretti said the presentation lacked substance.

"We talk about crime is down, but the fear factor in all of our communities is reaching the highest levels ever and people are turning around looking behind them before they close their doors to see if anyone followed them," said Ald. Fioretti, 2nd Ward.

The proposed police budget for next year is $1.45 billion -- a nearly 6 percent increase over last year - and that includes an extra $2 million for new bicycles for beat cops.